Who Caused It?

       Oh my, did you hear about this truck killing more than 80 people in Nice, France? We've got to stop recruiting people to be terrorists. I don't mean just America, although we certainly are one of the biggest supporter of ISIS and Al-Qaida. We and much of Europe are the best recruiters for terrorist groups, even bigger than their own people. Think not? Listen to the speeches of one of the major contenders for the White House sometime instead of bobbing your head like a little dog on the dashboard. There are even Democrats sounding like that.
       Don't you think young middle eastern refugees and Muslims here in America hear that? How would you feel if a serious candidate were to suggest that every Catholic or Methodist or Jew or any other religion were to hear that they were no longer welcome in America. Hey, Catholics did hear similar words about a hundred years ago. How would members of your family feel about such pronouncements? Think any would take exception to those words?
       I know a number of Muslims, good people. Muslims aren't the problem. The problem is that some are mad as hell at us. You don't think we could have done something to cause them to be mad at us? If you don't, you're living in a dream world. Why don't we ask them what we can do to soothe their hurt feelings. Seriously! We need to get over ourselves. We can and have harmed their world. They may not want to be us. They may want to be a better us. We should too.
       If we want to be great again, we need to treat people with respect. Even people who don't look like us or even speak like us. We should be mad as hell at us. We need to let our leaders and those who would be our leaders that we demand they too treat everyone with respect. The old adage "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" really does work if you give it time, time to prove we're serious. Fight terrorism, yes, but calm down the rhetoric.

Yes! There Is Evolution!

       In the not too distant future beachfront homeowners will stand on their front porches, knee deep in salt water and shout out that global warming is a hoax. The world is 6000 years old and Americans, who are the original humans, kept herds of diary dinosaurs while fighting Crazy Horse the hated Indian. And like Davy Crocket, we still fight the honorable war for independence for all true lovers of the Constitution around the world.
       For many Americans, the truth ain't in us. We listen to politicians make promises that they can't possibly deliver on. After the election, those same politicians smile and do almost exactly what they accused their opponents of conspiring to do. Then we Americans turn around and applaud those same politicians for doing right by us. Even if it hurts us. So long as it helps the donor class that buys the election for those same politicians.    
       Why should we worry about that donor class? Why, because that donor class are the very self same people who create the jobs available to you.  You know, those high paying jobs that only the donor class can or will create. Why would the donor class create such wonderful jobs for me? Because after they have all the money they want they will allow any excess money to filter down to us in the form of great, high paying jobs.
       But what if they don't have all the money they want, what then? Well then you're just going to have to work harder for less pay so they can get enough more money to have enough. Remember, only job creators can create jobs.
       Way back in the dark pre-history of time the people didn't have these kinds of problems. Back then the strongest member of a clan simply took over. Everyone had jobs because the politician/ruler simply told the people what to do. He was the leader and the job creator. It was a simple way of life. But over time we evolved into societies that seemed to want a separation of power. That's why politicians now ask us to do something and the job creators tell us what to do. A better way?
      
         

Please Help.

       The shootings in Dallas, Texas were apparently a misguided attempt at revenge for the shootings in Baton Rouge and Falcon Heights. But weren't those two shootings misguided as well? Look folks, a single shooting of a black, white, brown or green person by a police officer would be considered a tragedy. But the vast number of shootings of black boys and men by police officers with painfully few consequences reflects an unsolved problem with little attention being paid to the problem.
       The shooting of 12 police officers in Dallas with five dead is a tragedy and an extremely serious problem. One of several outcomes are likely. Either policemen around the country will become far more alert to the danger posed by black men and boys resulting in ever more blacks being shot by police and the real danger that more black avengers will act out their twisted approach to the problem.
       Either that or police departments around the country will  begin crash courses on how to defuse problems with black men and boys and begin to build trust in their communities. Now this approach can, over time, result in the kind of police department Dallas has built where police killings have dropped to nearly none. That's not by accident. And trust in that community seems to be at an all time high despite this lone exception.
       The alternative would wind up in all out war between the races. How would that help anyone? It's not a political problem, but politicians must lead the assault on this problem. It's not a religious problem but religious leaders need to speak out against this distrust. It is a race problem and everyone needs to tone it down. It's not a second amendment problem so the NRA needs to speak up for sanity for a change. So what are you doing to help?

Founding Father.

       The first liberal in America may have been James Madison, one of the founding fathers, "and who in the Federalist Papers made the case that democracies, by their nature, endanger the rights of political minorities and must design institutions that protect those rights," according to James Traub. By the way, the Federalist Papers were written by several of the Founding Fathers as guidelines for following the Constitution.
       In other words just because the majority wants things handled in a certain way doesn't give them the right to trample minorities under foot. Still don't get it? Well let me put it this way, if the majority of legislators in a certain state don't want minority voters to have access to polling places or even the right to vote, they can't just make it too difficult to be registered. To the contrary the legislature must make it as easy as possible.
       So, how's that working for you? Still don't get it? The example I gave in the last paragraph is exactly what's happening in the majority of states, and the Supreme Court is finally stepping in to rectify those shameful and inappropriate legislative decisions. Still don't agree? If you still don't agree or understand, you are exactly the reason Madison wrote those statements in the Federalist Papers.
       The majority simply does not have the right to deny the rights of the minority and that includes voting rights. The suggestion of potential voting fraud is a sham. No state has been able to prove fraud in more than one or two cases and most can't even show a single example of fraud. Such numbers do not present sufficient reason to deny the voting rights of millions of people.
       And such suppression of the minorities is almost exactly why we had the American Revolutionary War. Remember your history book? The Colonists were being taxed with no say in how they were governed. Sound familiar?

Go Toe To Toe.

       It surprises me no end that so many Republican legislators hate the idea of a $15 minimum wage. Why you'd think we were trying to pick their pockets and send them to the poor house. Of course raising the minimum wage to more than double would hurt business, maybe, but it would actually help the Congressmen. They could fulfill their everlasting dream of cutting entitlements, at least some.
       Ya see, by raising the minimum wage they could eliminate entitlements like the Earned income Tax Credit and most of the bothersome Food Stamp program. Hey, they'd be heroes in their own minds. The reason they'd  be happy is all the savings they could boast about. Heck they could give away another tax cut for the wealthy, which would make the rich happy.
       Of course business and industry would be unhappy because they'd have to raise prices on their products. But then way more people could afford to buy their products since they'd all be making more money. More demand would require more employees or more companies making those products. The dilemma could be solved by lowering the income of the management class. In fact that would begin to solve the inequality problem. Seems like a win-win-win solution.
       It would even make companies like Walmart somewhat happy because they could phase out their department that trains their employees on how to get funds from government entitlements. Add another win to the win column. Still there is that hurdle of Congressional conservatives to get past. No matter what the advantages there's no way Congress will allow something that's good for Americans to get past their blockade.
       It's a lot like a man who shoots off his big toe. He won't be happy until he shoots off his other big toe so he ain't lopsided. They complain about entitlements but they won't do something that will solve the problem. They'd rather lose two big toes.

Were Our Troops Recieved With Open Arms?

       Ya gotta love the British. The Chilcot report was just released and it pulled no punches. Sir John Chilcot, chairman of the committee who did the report on the Iraq War for the British said it like it was. The intelligence used to justify and promote the Iraqi war was deeply flawed and what's worse it was reported to the Prime Minister and his staff and presumably, the White House, that it was flawed. Never the less it was sold to the two governments as necessary and that immediate action was called for.
       The report also points out that the Weapons Of Mass Destruction (WMD) never existed and that  the assurances of an easy victory were poorly thought out and grossly misleading. The report also points out that no comprehensive plan for the aftermath was considered.
       It's too bad that America doesn't have a John Chilcot, or perhaps that no such person was allowed to give so complete a report on a war that has caused so much upheaval in the Middle East. I think we can lay the invasion to kill Saddam Hussein in which our troops would be greeted with open arms, squarely in the arms of an administration hell bent on getting their hands on Iraqi oil.
       We've seen no publication that has squarely laid the blame where it belongs. Our massive indebtedness and the loss of so many soldiers and the even greater number of injured, many who's lives are twisted and tortured for life are all a direct result of that war and the leadership who intentionally misled our government.
       The failure to bring such a report into being almost certainly opens the way to repeating the same mistake some time in the future. Forget that those who so cavalierly chose to send our youth into a war that should never have taken place, they were never officially chastised for those decisions. Which means that somewhere in the future leaders will believe they can do as they please without fear of reprisal. Ahh but then that's the American way.

Success At Last.

       This morning on Morning Jo, I heard what I think is the best explanation for Donald Trump's success in this presidential campaign. It has nothing to do with his name calling, his thin skin or any of his attributes real or imagined. It has everything to do with his promise. His success in business and his failures are only sidelights that illuminate his experience.
       Every other candidate he's campaigned against has undervalued his promise. They all have stated they would do everything in their power to improve our lives, to bring back and create jobs, higher paying jobs, or something to that effect. Donald Trump hasn't fallen into that trap though. He has stated flatly that once elected, great jobs, higher paying jobs, WILL come back and America WILL be great again, greater than ever. He, Donald Trump, will make it happen because he knows how.
       Never mind that he has no experience at running a government, he exudes certainty. He will, he can, he knows, he does and he does all these things with no proof other than his word. He has and is giving his word that all this good will come to pass if only you will vote for him. Its not unlike the televangelists of old. All you have to do is pray and give them money and all your ills will be cured, you'll be rich and healthy. In other words. its snake oil folks.
       But to people who are struggling, who are in debt, homeless, unable to care for your family as you had hoped, for these folks, they've heard the promises before. Politicians who promise to do their best to make things better if elected. But once in office, nothing changes. Jobs continue to disappear, wages seem to get lower, promises unfulfilled.
       Then along comes Donald Trump. He assures people that he WILL make things better because he knows how, it WILL happen. He doesn't sound like the promises of the past, his are the assurances of the now. He can make things better because he's so very successful. Snake oil! But it sells because he's sure and those long suffering folks are buying that snake oil because they need to believe.